Is Your Home Insulation Adequate? Where to Improve R-Value

Besides impacting your wallet, the loss of heat through inadequate home insulation can be detrimental to your home’s level of comfort. Feeling a draft or walking through cold zones in your house is downright aggravating, and why we’d like to help you improve your home’s R-value.

R-value is an assessment of the amount of thermal resistance that an insulator provides. Choosing the level of R-value for your home depends on the climate you live in and the design of your home.

If you’re planning on the next ice age then you could easily buy the highest R-value insulation and call it done, but instead, talk to a professional and get an assessment because you can easily cross the boundary where cost outweighs the benefit.

To maximize the benefits of your home insulation you should look to properly insulate from your roof down to your basement. You are looking to reduce uncontrolled air flow from one segment of your home to another.

Finished attics — between the studs and rafters exterior walls and roof.

Exterior walls — between living spaces and garages.

Exterior walls — foundation walls above ground level.

Exterior walls — foundation walls in heated basement.

Floors — above cold spaces like an unheated basement.

Floors — any portion that cantilevers over the foundation walls.

Floors — slab floors built directly on the ground.

These three areas — attics, exterior walls, and floors — are a good start on the path to improving the R-value of your home insulation and saving yourself from aggravating cold drafts and wasted money. Should you need any further suggestions as to where to save money or have questions about the advice we offer above, Aggressive Mechanical Contractors are here to help.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in Monmouth County, New Jersey and surrounding areas about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).